Why had his master's tribulation been so painful?
Was it because he hadn't thanked the Heavenly Way?
Li Changshou harbored this doubt as he felt the second wave of his tribulation, analyzing how the power of the Great Dao had just impacted his body...
It probably had nothing to do with thanking the Heavenly Way beforehand.
The Heavenly Way was supremely impartial. He had simply tried it with a neutral mindset, expecting neither merit nor offense. That in itself should have had no effect.
The reason the first two strikes had felt rather comfortable was purely because...
The first two strikes of tribulation lightning had been unable to cause him any real harm.
This wasn't actually difficult to understand.
It was like different patrons visiting the same establishment, each being playfully smacked by the same girl with a coy "Oh my, what took you so long."
Thanks to professional standards, the force of each smack was identical, but depending on how depleted each patron was, the sensation would differ...
That was roughly the situation.
The third bolt of tribulation lightning was gathering above his head, but Li Changshou found that many insights were surfacing in his mind.
The first two strikes had seemed to crack open a door before him just enough to glimpse a profound and wondrous world beyond.
*'This must be the Great Dao—or the Heavenly Way—constantly colliding with my own Dao.'*
Could this be the key to ascension?
*Boom!*
The sea surface rippled outward in layer after layer from the thunder.
Amid the thunder, several lightning spots flared, and another massive bolt of lightning crashed down!
Li Changshou, suspended in midair, was pressed downward by three zhang, but his body stabilized once more. He deflected the majority of the lightning pillar, and the remaining bolts split apart above his head, striking the sea surface in various directions.
Fortunately, those twelve Far-Whatever Birdcages were positioned a bit farther away, or several would have been destroyed by now.
This time...
The tribulation was causing some damage.
Li Changshou looked at the lock of hair in his hand—still dyed gray-white as part of his disguise—and felt slightly reassured.
—His own tribulation was no different from any other cultivator's.
A scorch mark had appeared on his Daoist robe.
Before the tribulation, he had removed every metallic item from his person. The scorch mark on the robe had been caused by a decorative jade bead that had just exploded.
Right now, fine arcs of electricity still crackled across Li Changshou's entire body.
Wisps of immortal qi were converging on his arms and shoulders. A portion of his Dao body, roughly the size of a fingernail, had begun transforming into an immortal body.
He returned to his height of nine zhang, mobilizing all his mana along with the immortal qi he now possessed, awaiting the fourth strike.
From the vortex above came roaring sounds. The tribulation clouds churned continuously.
The tribulation clouds displayed various phenomena once more—dozens of fierce beasts seemed locked within, straining to break free and rush down to devour Li Changshou.
"At the third strike, the tribulation changes form."
In his right hand, Li Changshou materialized a crude, rusted carving knife, but after a moment's hesitation, he put it away. He continued to withstand the tribulation with his physical body, primordial spirit, and mana alone, allowing the Great Dao and his own Dao to continue their collision.
He needed this collision!
The door that had been cracked open by a sliver had now been pushed halfway ajar, and he could already see the magnificent vista beyond.
His primordial spirit, immersed in the lightning, had entered a wondrous state, even beginning to absorb the fine arcs of lightning, undergoing its own metamorphosis.
These conditions indicated that as long as Li Changshou survived the tribulation, "ascension" was guaranteed!
The degree of ascension might not be substantial yet, though—that would depend on whether the remaining strikes brought him even greater fortune.
*Zzzt—*
Six lightning spots the size of well-mouths appeared in the vortex above, arranged in a hexagram pattern. Within them, the faint visage of a white tiger could be seen.
The next instant, the white tiger roared, lightning erupted, converging into another pillar that hammered downward!
The fourth tribulation strike descended with devastating force!
The immense power of the Great Dao surged down alongside the lightning. Li Changshou grunted, his body pressed further downward by several zhang!
On the shore hundreds of li away, a group of fishermen gazed toward the distant sea. Many had already begun to kneel and pray toward the disturbance.
Within three hundred li, several immortals and cultivators who happened to be passing by were also observing from afar, feeling the wild, violent power of the tribulation.
"Who would face their tribulation in a place like this?"
"What powerful tribulation clouds—encompassing ten li. Could there be the legendary eight strikes?"
When encountering someone else's tribulation, the natural response was to steer well clear to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
The lightning faded, and Li Changshou's figure rose into the air once more.
*'This fourth strike was quite excellent—precise force, moderate intensity, provided more insights, and didn't damage my primordial spirit.'*
That counted as a fairly good tribulation. If the fifth and sixth strikes were similarly well-calibrated, things would be excellent indeed.
But deep down, Li Changshou felt a twinge of disappointment.
By this intensity, the rate of tribulation cloud depletion, and the patterns he had previously compiled, plugging in the numbers—it had to be an eight-strike tribulation.
Even though he had long known his advantage lay in comprehension, in his active mind and flexible learning methods rather than innate talent...
—One's initial cultivation aptitude determined one's Heaven's Tribulation. That was the Heavenly Way's rule.
And his tribulation hadn't gone haywire.
But when the tribulation arrived and he discovered it was different from the "Nine Extremes Lightning Tribulation" he had worried about for over sixty years...
There was bound to be at least a tiny flicker of disappointment.
However, everything had two sides. An eight-strike tribulation—he should be able to pass it comfortably, without needing to expose too many trump cards.
More precious still was the collision between the Great Dao and his own Dao, which had granted him tremendous benefits, steadily revealing more realms and flooding his mind with vast insights.
*'Ascend a bit more—that would be good too.'*
*Boom—*
The fifth tribulation strike descended. Li Changshou defended with everything he had. The immortal qi within his body grew ever more abundant.
A seven-colored light appeared on his forehead—the mark of an accelerated transformation into an immortal body!
Then the sixth strike...
The seventh...
From a distance.
The tribulation clouds churned relentlessly, and within them appeared one ancient beast after another.
A Qiongqi spreading its wings, a Qilin wreathed in gray flame, a Taotie with its massive belly-mouth, a Taowu bristling with spikes...
Thirty-two fierce beasts in total, appearing in succession atop the tribulation clouds.
Each collision between these beasts produced a tremendous lightning pillar, cleaving down at the figure suspended in midair.
A thousand li away, an old Daoist returning from visiting a friend with his disciple, bound for a Southern Sea immortal island, cast a suspicious glance toward Li Changshou's tribulation site.
The old Daoist counted on his fingers, calculating, a flash of light in his eyes. With some astonishment, he murmured:
"That is...
The tribulation ranked fourth in legend!
The Thirty-Two Beast Eight Extremes Eight Desolations Immortal-Calling Tribulation!"
The spirited young girl beside him asked: "Master, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," the old Daoist shook his head and sighed. "A cultivation prodigy is about to perish beneath his own tribulation. Come, Hanzhi.
A tribulation like this... is purely a matter of one's fated calamity.
Sometimes, exceptional talent really isn't a good thing!
With your first-rate cultivation aptitude, you'll need to put some thought into facing your own tribulation in the future."
With that, the old Daoist and the girl rode their clouds deeper into the Southern Sea.
He was the only person within range during the entirety of Li Changshou's tribulation who could have posed a threat.
But this immortal didn't linger further. Taking his disciple, along with a trace of regret for the tribulation-taker about to fall...
He departed quietly, merely passing through.
This was, in truth, a testament to Li Changshou's tribulation preparations. His painstaking effort in finding just the right location had not been in vain.
Now, back to the tribulation.
Seven lightning pillars had struck in succession. The roar of thunder echoed between heaven and earth, and all living creatures within several hundred li of the sea were trembling in terror.
Yet the time since the tribulation first descended was less than one incense stick's burning.
The tribulation clouds had already diminished greatly in volume. The beasts' roars were deafening, and the thirty-two lightning spots upon them flickered ceaselessly, gathering for the tribulation's final strike!
Beneath the tribulation clouds, Li Changshou frowned deeply, took a deep breath, and suppressed the tremors within his body caused by the collision between mana and immortal qi.
Just now, the seventh lightning pillar had already been one zhang in diameter.
This one should be thicker, stronger!
Li Changshou's Daoist robe now bore over a dozen tears, but from his forehead to his neck, his entire upper body radiated brilliant, seven-colored immortal light.
This immortal light would fade once his immortal foundation stabilized.
But...
His tribulation... unexpectedly...
Wasn't very impressive.
A truly excellent Heaven's Tribulation should provide cultivators with sufficient benefits and sufficiently intense trials, guiding them through the process of spiritual sublimation and into true immortality.
His tribulation seemed to have a miscalibrated intensity.
It was simply too gentle.
Right now, only the portion of his body above the neck had transformed into an immortal body.
This was the result of Li Changshou resisting with only mana, physical body, and primordial spirit—without using any of the various measures he had prepared.
*'It's fine. There's still the eighth strike.'*
Li Changshou consoled himself, but a foreboding premonition had already begun stirring in his heart.
Above, the lightning spots flashed continuously, the lightning converging, the power of the tribulation surging wildly—as though it were determined to tear Li Changshou apart in this final bolt.
But within his heart, images arose one after another.
The countless times he had desperately suppressed his realm, ceaselessly accumulated insights, treated every small breakthrough as a monumental step in his life, endured hardships, cultivated bitterly for a century, treaded warily as though walking on thin ice...
His Dao body—solid as a treasure artifact.
His primordial spirit—flawless and complete.
At last, his efforts, his struggles, and his life-risking repression had earned him today's reward.
Thirty-two lightning spots erupted simultaneously. Countless silver serpents and electric pythons writhed through the sky, converging within the vortex into a massive lightning pillar three zhang in diameter. Blazing with brilliant radiance, it plummeted toward Li Changshou below with savage ferocity!
Between heaven and earth—a world of blinding lightning!
At the edge of the mortal world, above the Southern Sea—the divine lightning cleansed the world!
For the first time, Li Changshou's heart surged with genuine emotion. He spread his arms wide to welcome his life's sublimation!
His heart roared with passion!
For he could already feel the ten-thousand-zhang grandeur of his future Dao, standing tall between heaven and earth!
From this day forth, the path of the immortal begins. Tomorrow, stability shall seek eternity!
*Whoosh—*
The tribulation lightning instantly devoured Li Changshou, melting the coral reef below. The sea surface blazed with electric light.
Moments later, the lightning subsided. Immortal music echoed between heaven and earth, and a small, lingzhi-shaped auspicious cloud rose from the sea surface, cradling Li Changshou's body.
A beam of immortal light descended from the tribulation clouds, enveloping Li Changshou. An irrepressible excitement surged within him.
Ascension!
Dao Formation!
*This is the immortal path. This is it!*
*This—!*
*Wait—something's not right!*
Li Changshou looked down. His gaze froze...
His body—from the abdomen upward—had transformed into an immortal body, radiating seven-colored immortal light. But his hands, forearms, and everything below the line separating chest and abdomen remained as they always were.
They had merely gained wisps of immortal qi layered atop the original Dao body.
He looked like a defective statue—half carved from exquisite colored jade, half from mud!
His primordial spirit, too, was sometimes flowing with seven-colored immortal power, and sometimes...
Exactly as it had been before!
It seemed the Heavenly Way had also noticed that something was wrong with Li Changshou's situation. The immortal music stopped, the auspicious cloud dispersed, and all the strange phenomena vanished.
But the now-white tribulation clouds continued to dissipate rapidly...
Li Changshou snapped back to his senses.
*What was going on?*
*He had never seen this situation in any ancient text!*
*The tribulation was finished, but the tribulation's power hadn't been enough?*
*He had built his foundation too solidly. Eight strikes of lightning couldn't break through, so it couldn't convert his Dao body into an immortal body?*
*Holy—*
*What was he supposed to do now?*
*Voluntarily amputate? Let the upper half ascend?*
*The lower half was important too!*
*Moreover, his primordial spirit was also half-baked and unable to transform into an immortal infant. He couldn't just amputate that either!*
*How would you even amputate a primordial spirit? This wasn't like practicing the Evil-Warding Sword Technique—you couldn't just decide to discard certain things!*
Li Changshou looked up at the tribulation clouds nearly gone from the sky, his mind racing, his expression growing anxious.
He couldn't afford to be picky now—he had to solve this awkward situation immediately...
He did not want to become a half-cooked immortal!
The gate to immortality had been pushed open, he had survived the tribulation, yet his Dao foundation was "too sturdy" and he was stuck in the doorway!
He raised his hand, charged two steps forward, and shouted in a panic at the remnants of the tribulation clouds:
"Hold on!"
The sky full of tribulation clouds paused for an instant—but then accelerated their dispersal and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Li Changshou: ...
It—ran away?
Before he could even complain, a deep *thud* sounded. His primordial spirit and Dao body both trembled.
An indescribable majesty descended from the heavens, locking onto him!